In this article we will be
analyzing the claim that Qur’an promises to guard all revelations and therefore
Tauraah (Torah) and Injeel (Gospel) and Zaboor (Psalm) along with Qur’an have
also been guarded from corruption by Almighty Allah or else the Qur’an carries
some serious problems.

The passage from the Qur’an under review here is as follows:

إنا نحن نزلنا الذكر وإنا له لحافظون

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the reminder
and indeed, We will be its guardian.”[1]

Other translations of the Qur’an translate the word الذكر as remembrance, warning, exhortation, message etc.
instead of reminder. Some have
instead used the word Qur’an due to
the context. If we go three verses back, we find that Allah Almighty is
addressing His Messenger –on him
be the peace and blessings of Allah- and what has been sent to him or
revealed on him is none other than the Qur’an.Before we proceed, we can agree
that all of them appear to be correct and using one does not make the usage of
the other incorrect.

A question may arise here that the Qur’an on one hand declares the
previous scriptures to be altered and not in their original shape as revealed
but at the same time commands the believers to believe in all the revelations
including the previous ones (Qur’an 2:4).
To the questioner, this appears as a contradiction. However, if one understands
the purposes of the Qur’an, as partially mentioned above, one gets the idea
that the Qur’an has corrected the previous revelations numerous times (an
example here) while at the same time remained silent on a lot of issues. Part of the
wisdom behind such silence is that they are not relevant to the religion and
guidance of the heart. For example, it does not matter how old a person was,
how many children he had, their ages and private life details etc. We have a
wonderful saying of the Prophet Muhammad–on him be the peace and blessings of
Allah- that summarizes all of this for us beautifully:

Narrated by Abu Huraira: The people of
the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the
Muslims. Allah's Messenger –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- said (to
the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve
them, but say, 'We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever
is revealed to you.'"[2]

The saying of the Prophet -on
him be the peace and blessings of Allah- ordering the believers to
believe in the previous scriptures is somewhat similar to the command of the
Almighty Allah in Qur’an 2:4.
Pondering over the last line whatever is revealed to you deeply would not
result in any questions and complications to arise. To those whom questions do
arise is due to the highlighted is and
they tend to get the idea that whatever is with the previously guided nations
is the truth as well. However, the very next word revealed is the conclusive word. Mixing of self-made words with
what is revealed does not make the inserted
part from Allah. The believers only believe in what has actually been revealed;
being inspired does not count.

In fact this idea is based on Quranic authority itself. With respect to
mutual relation of Qur’an and the previous scriptures, Allah says in the Qur’an;

“We have sent down to you the Book with truth, confirming the Book
before it, and a protector for it. So, judge between them according to
what Allah has sent down, and do not follow their desires against the truth
that has come to you.” (Qur’an
5:48)

Commenting on the Qur’an role as protector and guardian over the
previous scriptures Abdul Majid Daryabadi writes;

“That is one of the outstanding merits of the Holy Qur’an. Not only it
embodies within itself all the truths of the old Scriptures, but it also stands
to preserve them from corruption, and serves as a text whereby their
perversions, interpolations and inaccuracies can be known and corrected. And as
to the very fallible nature of the Bible, - well, it is self-confessed. The
infallibility of the Bible, says one of the modern apologists, ‘consists of no
absolute immunity from errors … Even the Gospels defy the harmonist in some
details, misquote at least one passage from the OT, and misattribute another
passage. The OT, in its cosmogony and in its history, fails again and again to
satisfy an exact standard of accuracy and to consist with modern knowledge,
while its statistics are not seldom inconsistent in detail. Many of its lapses
are covered up by the kindly offices of textual tradition and translation,
though every scholar knows them familiarly. Others have been smoothed over by
the indulgent resources of an ingenious interpretation. It is now a commonplace
of Biblical learning that God has been at no pains to present errors of history
and knowledge and defects in the text and its transmission from finding an
entrance into the sacred pages of His Written Word.’ (ERE, VII, pp.;262-263)”[3]

Many missionaries quote the following Qur’anic verse to make a claim of
theirs:

وتمت كلمة ربك صدقا وعدلا لا مبدل لكلماته وهو السميع
العليم

“The word of thy
Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can
change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all.”[4]

Anti-Islamic missionaries deduce
from this verse that since the Torah and Gospel were also the words of Allah,
they cannot be changed and hence these books are uncorrupted. The quoted verse
however, has a different interpretation as explained by Imam Qurtub on the
authority of al-Qatada:

“There is no change in the
judgment of God. Even if one were to change and substitute the words just as
the people of the book did with the Torah and Gospel, God doesn't consider
this.”[5]

Some orientalists come up with
the argument that since the previous revelations are also the word of Allah
along with the Qur’an, therefore the corruption of previous revelations would
mean that some of Allah’s revelations can be corrupted.It would therefore be
correct to say, as per them, that since Qur’an is also a revelation of Allah, some
of Qur’an can also be corrupted and hence Qur’an is corruptible.

Missionaries who have come up
with this argument have also claimed the same vice versa that since some of the
revelation has been preserved and the Torah, Psalms and the Gospel are also
revelations and hence these books can be preserved by Allah.

Even though this may seem humorous
to the reader but one such person has indeed raised such a point. Perhaps with
a lot of role models of his coming up with loads of new attacks against Islam
every now and then, such people feel the need to live up to their mark. Pretending
intellectualism while delivering absurdities is nothing less than dishonesty to
themselves. This argument is like putting own words into someone else’s mouth. If
Allah has clearly stated that the previous scriptures have been altered and corrupted
and that the Qur’an will be protected by Him, then we find no room for such
assumptions.

Even if we consider the
possibility of such an argument and try to apply it in practice, we get loads
of problems. The Qur’an mentions that Injeel (Gospel) was revealed by Allah
upon Prophet Eisa (Jesus) –peace be upon him- (Qur’an 5:46) whereas the Gospels available to us today are not
claimed to be the word of God; Christians claims that they were written by human
beings who were inspired by God. We are looking for the Gospel of God provided to Prophet Eisa
(Jesus) -peace be upon him- and not that of Mark or Luke or any other human
being and that too written much after Prophet Eisa (Jesus) -peace be upon him-
had left the earth. If we can find them, then we can argue whether they have
been altered and corrupted or not. Corruption of some other totally unrelated
books does not matter at all.The ancient scriptures have been altered and
corrupted here on earth but they are preserved in the ‘Preserved Tablet’ (Al
Lauw Al Mahfooz); however the promise of Allah of safeguarding the Qur’an is
also for this world which has been fulfilled and will continue to be till the End.
The same is valid for the Torah; it speaks in the name of men whereas we seek
the original spoken word of God Almighty. Allah sends messengers to bring
mankind back to the straight path. When the followers of Torah had altered
their books, Allah guided them that they have altered their book (Jeremiah 8:8). They were guided to mend
their ways but Allah’s law was different for them while He has promised to keep
the Qur’an in its original shape and form. This He has done to perfect and
complete the revelation:

اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي ورضيت لكم الإسلام
دينا

“This day I have perfected
your religion for you and completed My favour upon you and have approved for
you Islam as your religion.”[6]

This way if anyone had doubts
that Allah is either unable to do some things or He is unjust, will surely
vanish. There is still enough guidance still present in
previous scriptures indicating towards the truth of Islam while
mentioning that the old books are corrupt. There are numerous evidences even in
the rejected books. If Allah
were to judge the followers of these books on their own books, they would fail
there as well. Therefore, the followers of previous scriptures should take what
is in their books and open the final revelation being pointed towards from
their own books and accept it wholeheartedly.